Rejuvenation Part 1
November 1, 2024
Rejuvenation Part 1
You are warmly invited to this week's Daily Reflections on Rejuvenation.
The word rejuvenation is rooted in the Latin "juvenis" which means young. Rejuvenation conveys the thought of making something or someone young again. We equate youth with strength, liveliness, and beauty, which are invaluable in moving us through the world. As we age, however, navigating the world can be physically challenging. As we lose the benefits of strength, aliveness, and beauty, we naturally want to recapture them. So, we search for ways to restore them. In what ways have you tried to recapture and maintain your younger self? Have these worked
Physical fitness restores some of our lost physical abilities. And the outer self can have the appearance of youth and fitness with particular clothing, hairstyles, lotions, treatments, and makeup. But what about the aliveness of youth? How can that be restored?
Over the course of time, we are dissipated by stress, trauma, and continuous expenditures of energy. Our batteries were once highly charged, but time takes its toll and they lose their charge. An ebbing life force affects our demeanor, capacities, and outer appearance. Some think that time dissipates our life force, yet I have met many chronologically young people who lost their life force long ago. Because of their demands, adversities, external circumstances, and approach to these, they age rapidly, give up early, or wither away. But what wears them away? Living disconnected from their core inner aliveness, they erode.
But happily, there is such a thing as "ageless aging.' This phenomenon is found in people who regain an essential aspect of their youth (some never lose it.) What is this aspect, and how does it keep us youthful? The eternal recharger is our ESSENCE. It is our core identity from day one. It contains our original spark, our "why," and life force. Our essence never loses its divine energy or its connection to God. We glow with its life force, even when that force transitions from this realm to the next.
So the good news is that we don't have to age in the traditional sense. With the connection to our essence, we retain a spiritual strength, beauty, and aliveness that never dies. Those who live in this connection exude a positive and peaceful energy even in loss and other adversities. They shine.
Spiritual practice: To rejuvenate, gently close your eyes and imagine your soul child. Bring that child close to you and feel its energy coming into your body. For guidance in this spiritual practice, listen to the podcast "A Soul Child Meditation" from “The Real Enneagram: A Spiritual Quest.”
Self-inquiry: Why would you opt for aging the traditional way?
Dear God,
For the rejuvenation of my soul by embodying my essence, I am so grateful. Amen
